Friday, January 21 - Newcastle revisited...
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| Alnmouth train station |
After a long week of classes I was relieved to be going on a field trip to Newcastle. On this trip's agenda was to visit several different art galleries and museums. Of the museums on the top of my list was the Baltic Museum of Contemporary Arts.
Shortly after 10am we arrived at Newcastle. I was really excited to be back in Newcastle, since I had so througoughly enjoyed my first visit. From the train station we began our walk to the Baltic Museum of Contemporary Arts. Although it was a bit chilly, I was sure to take in all the architecture and scenery that Newcastle has to offer.
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| Newcastle |
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capturing the morning sun on our walk to the Baltic |
From that walk we came across a corner in an alley which contained some amazing graffiti which was located directly across the way from the Sage, a performing art center. The building of the Sage was so unique and interesting to look at, I was glad that we decided to brave the cold and walk to the Baltic, otherwise we would have not been able to see as many of the great local treasures as we did.
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| The Sage - peforming arts center |
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I just really loved this sign that was
on a light post :) |
Finally, we were at the Baltic! I was so excited to go inside and see what was on exhibition, just by the looks of the building I thought I was going to be impressed. Too bad the outside appearance didn't hold true what was waiting for me inside.
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The Gateshead Millennium Bridge-
Outside of the Baltic |
As we entered the Baltic, I immediately noticed how contemporary the building design and decor was. The entrance to the lobby had a reflective ceiling which created a very wierd feeling and look to it. I couldn't help myself from snapping pictures!
After taking some pictures of the lobby we decided that we should probably go do what we had come there for, to check out some art! As we walked in the second floor of the museum, I noticed that it was pretty empty. This space in the gallery was for the exhibition "Olympia" by Bryan Ferry. This exhibition was comprised of several large black and white photographs of Kate Moss, as well as 4 color photographs which made the cover of his album of his group Roxy Music.
What a let down. The images of Kate Moss instead of provoking the idea of a gaze and idea of a modern muse, his images just looked like ads from a beauty catalog. I was very disappointed with this exhibition and hoped that the other floors had more to offer.
As we were climbing the stairs to go to the next floor we realized that the next floor open was floor 5. Really? All these floors are unaccessible for us to view. Yet another let down.
Floor 5. This was the big exhibition that I was told about. It was called "Blackout" by Dan Holdsworth--a photographer as well. His work was comprised of traditional large format photographs in which he created raw negatives of an Icelandic glacier. Once again I was not impressed with the work. While I understand he wanted to capture the "truths" of the landscapes, they instead just feel extremely lackluster. I left the exhibition feeling as though I wanted and needed more.
Back to the stairs we went, and this time the next open floor was all the way at the top of the Baltic. This had to have been the best part of the museum in my mind. The view was amazing as well as the information about past and upcoming shows on the walls. As a group we spent the most time in this area looking outside the museum than looking in, probably not what the Baltic curators had in mind.
After finding the Baltic to be huge let down, we decided it was time to venture on. From here we walked back towards the heart of the city. It's so different how Newcastle is from Alnwick, the traffic, crowds and noise are the biggest difference. As much as I love Alnwick for its peaceful charm, it is definately nice to go someplace with a little more excitement.
After more exploring we came to the Castle Keep, which consists of the Black Gate and Castle Garth. This structure is what gives Newcastle its name. The castle was originally created in 1080 over the site of a Roman fort. What remains now is the Castle Keep or tower, and the Black Gate, in which both were used as a defense mechanism.
After spending some time at the Castle Keep, we decided it was best to keep moving if we wanted to stay on schedule. Our next stop, the Discovery Museum. The Discovery Museum helped explain the history of Newcastle. After going into a few rooms, I began to realize that the target audience might be a little younger than our group. Although we may have been a bit old to participate in some of the activities, it was still a great learning experience, and ended up being a lot of fun, afterall I am a kid at heart.
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| An old printing press |
After fooling around a bit and checking out the rest of the exhibits in the museum, we were on our way to check out more art. The Discovery Museum was a good pick me up after the Baltic's disappointment. Next mission...across town to the Laing Gallery.
The Laing Gallery had an exhibition which was called "So Last Century: Art From the Laing Collection 1900 - 2000". This exhibition was done to reflect the changes artists encountered as they entered a new modern age. The exhibition contained several different types of artwork, from watercolors, to portraits and landscapes. Artists from the show included some paintings from Stanley Spencer, Frank Auerbach, Alfred Lambart, and Laura Knight. I really enjoyed this gallery more than the Baltic it seemed more put together and cohesive as a whole.
From the Laing Gallery we went to a gallery that I had researched and was interested in. The Whitewall Gallery was a gallery in which the artist (Jack Vettriano) my sister and I like, had one of his first exhibitions at.
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One of Jack Vettriano's paintings
at the Whitewall Gallery |
When we arrived at the gallery the people running it were very friendly and seemed happy that we stopped in. I walked into the first room and was very pleased! The art in there was more contemporary and was more interesting than the museums/galleries I had seen prior. It was nice to see how a small gallery like that one was run, and how they worked the space they had. They also had an upstairs which like the bottom floor was packed with artwork. They eeven had one of Jack Vettriano hanging up! I snuck a picture really quickly. Other artists that I fell in love with were Henry Ascencio and Fabian Perez. All in all this was the best gallery I saw in Newcastle. It was an amazing experience, and I am overall very happy with my decision to do some research.
After this gallery we were all pretty worn out from walking around Newcastle all day. We decided it was best for us to grab a snack and get on the train. On the train home I had time to sit back and reassess this trip to Newcastle and what I had learned.
What did I learn from this trip? Well, sometimes the bigger galleries are the ones to let you down but if you go off the beaten path you can find something much greater than you could imagine.
Cheers!
